Dora Goes to School!

Ever since last Tuesday when Brooklyn had her first turn at show & tell, I have heard non-stop about taking Dora, her cat , to school. She checked with her teacher, got the okay, and it has been, Dora, Dora, Dora, ever since. Now for those of you who don't know, I am not an animal person, the exact opposite of my darling husband, Brook. I was raised with a dad who does not like to touch anything dirty, let alone an animal, so therefore, I took on his non-loving spirit for animals. I try, really I do, for I desperately want to be an animal lover, but I can't stand to be licked, rubbed up against, jumped on, or have any trace of hair on me. I can't help it and have tried over the last 9 years to develop a love for anything furry and it just hasn't seemed to work, again the exact opposite of Brook.

When Brooklyn asked for a kitten for her birthday in June, my first thought was "No, no animals around here, one dog outside is enough." But then I reasoned with myself, or maybe I should say Brook did, and we decided that a kitten would be a good thing for her since her other request was for a little dog, one that would stay in the house and that was totally out of the question! Her eyes lit up like light bulb and it was love at first sight for her when she opened her "special package" from Daddy. We decided that it would be from Daddy since he would be the one to help take care of it. Anyway, Dora has so far survived our dog Maverick (he hates cats, but seems to get along fine with her), the many different wildlife that live around here, the vehicles coming and going, and being manhandled by the children. All in all, I guess that you could say that she is a good cat.

So, it was show & tell today and I had a little girl that was determined to take Dora to school. Origionally, we had decided that Brook would take Dora to the school at the appropriate time, since I am not known for being an animal handler. I knew that he would be a good one to help Brooklyn show Dora and pass her around to all the other children in the class. Funny thing though, that is not how it went! I was the one who had to take Dora and Brittan (who is a show & tell piece all of his own!) to school for show & tell because Brook had something that he needed to do at work. I wasn't too keen on the idea, but I had a little 5 year old that was expecting her parents to come thru. So, thinking that I was going to out smart Dora, I placed her in a box, tried to lock the lid so she couldn't get out while I was driving, I did not want cat hair in my car, tied a long ribbon around her neck just in case she did, and away I went, Brittan & Dora in tow!! Halfway down our road, I hear this scratching, meowing noise coming from the back seat. I turned around to see Dora, pawing and clawing her way out. I quickly reached back for the box, stuffed it behind the seat, which sandwiched it in a little more, and then I pushed hard on the top to keep her in. This is the way I drove to the school for the 15 minutes. When we arrived, I had a MAJOR cramp in my arm, a very disturbed cat, a little boy that had fallen asleep, and a class that was waiting for Dora to arrive! I grabbed the cat box with my bad arm, thinking that Brittan would be to heavy, put him in my other arm, and ran for all my might into the school. It was not in vain, Brooklyn had a smile a mile wide and the children we very excited about having Dora come. The cramp will go away, Brittan can finish his nap later this afternoon and Brooklyn was able to show to her class and in her eyes the day couldn't be better. "Good", I thought, "we are finished with taking anything major for show & tell", but on the way home Brooklyn said, "I think next week I'll take Maverick so the class can see my dog." Anyone available next Tuesday?